Duchess of ATHOLLasked the Minister of Transport if, in view of the fact that a person driving a motor car after the expiry of a licence forfeits a licence for 12 months, he will consider legislation to make all licences expire on the same day in the year?
§ Mr. HERBERT MORRISONThe Noble Lady is under a misapprehension. Driving a motor vehicle after the date of expiry of a driving licence is an 2491W offence under Section 4 (1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, but does not necessarily involve any period of disqualification. There is, however, a penalty of disqualification for 12 months (unless the Court otherwise orders) if a person drives a motor vehicle when he is not covered against third party risks. Some difficulty arose owing to the fact that many insurance policies contained a condition that the policy was only valid if the insured person was the holder of a driving licence. This difficulty has now been removed as a result of discussions with insurance interests, and I recently issued an announcement to the Press on the subject, of which I am sending the Noble Lady a copy. The suggestion that all driving licences should be renewed on one specific date has frequently been considered, but has been discarded as impracticable.